 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
The Bad News Bears
- Review Date: July 17, 2005
- PG
- Genre: Comedy
- 1976
Common Sense Media says
Very edgy baseball comedy is funny, poignant.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this more has some profanity and some very bad behavior (kids smoke, gamble, and ride motorcycles). During the end celebration, the coach gives beer to the 11-year-olds. One character is an alcoholic. The parents push their kids to win at all costs, and the kids are often bratty and mean.
What's the story?
In BAD NEWS BEARS, ex-minor leaguer Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau) spikes his beer with liquor before taking a check to manage a little league baseball team. An assortment of misfits, the Bears share one thing: they're all terrible players. At first, Buttermaker cares little for them. But after the boys get humiliated, he recruits secret weapon number one. More interested in ballet than baseball, Amanda (Tatum O'Neal), throws a knee-buckling curve. With Amanda pitching, and the others improving, the Bears gain respectability. When eleven-year-old, Harley-riding Kelly (Jackie Earle Haley) joins, the Bears become contenders. In the finals they play the Yankees, whose manager (Vic Morrow) mercilessly drives his players. Caught up in the competition, Buttermaker mistreats his team, until he realizes that they're only children playing a game. In the end, though the Bears lose, they regain their pride as Buttermaker tastes redemption.
Is it any good?
A Rocky-style sports movie packed with thrills, The Bad News Bears maintains a level of intelligence that its knock offs, like The Mighty Ducks, can't approach. It's thrilling, funny, and, at times, a poignant baseball film. It also reflects the taboo-testing 1970's. Though edgy, particularly when adults push their kids to win at all costs, is a winner with a tremendous amount of heart. This movie never condescends as it unblinkingly portrays the not always wholesome world of little league baseball. It's a world where children often brutalize the less skilled while parents insensitively encourage this cutthroat attitude. This theme of adults relentlessly pushing their offspring to succeed, usually more for themselves, is far too recognizable.
Besides this cold dose of reality, the movie also offers a steady supply of laughter. Much of it comes from the colorful collection of characters on the team. Not surprisingly, even more humor emanates from master curmudgeon Walter Matthau and his lively interplay with Tatum O'Neal. O'Neal creates an emotionally rich character who hides her need for a father behind a veneer of precocious independence.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about sportsmanship and about the pressure that kids who play sports often feel. They might also want to discuss the questionable behavior that goes on here (the smoking, drinking, name-calling, etc.)
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- All members
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- Teens & kids
AGE
Not for kids. Or adults.
This movie teaches all the wrong things about sports. Give your opponents the finger. Tell them to stick their trophy up their (you know where). Rather than trying to improve, just find some better players to put on your team. Use all the worst racial epithets.
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Kid, 12 years old
September 6, 2010
AGE
perfect for teens
Bad words, talk of female maturaty, drunk coach, and a few bad rolmodels. Good message
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AGE
Great for the 11+ aged kids but very iffy for any younger
It is a little questionable for younger children but the message at the end is right on. It could do without the ??language but I wasn't offended as much as surprised when it came out. I love this movie!
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AGE
Hilarious! Ages 12+
This movie is hilarious! The only thing i'm concerned about is the language, drug use, and violence. It includes child abuse (by throwing things). Bad News Bears is about how anyone can do anything.
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AGE
NOT an uplifting, beat-the-odds baseball picture
I was 12 when this movie came out in 1976, and I remember it fondly. What a surprise when I showed it to my kids! The language is extremely rough, and liberally strewn throughout the movie. The adults all behave extremely badly, and the children are subjected to lots of violence. Gritty, harsh, no happy ending -- not really a movie for kids.
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AGE
Horrible
The coach was really abusive to the kids. Not for ages 15 and under.
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AGE
extermly inapropriate for kids definetly not for kids
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Kid, 12 years old
July 13, 2010
AGE
almost heard of "f--k"
almost heard of "f--k", i can't keep the word "f--k: in PG or below, because you just can't say it.
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Kid, 12 years old
May 23, 2010
AGE
Violence (G): A dad punches his son for intentionally walking a kid.
Sexual Content (G): Kelly Leak crushes on a girl on the team.
Language (PG-13): geeks, sluts, n----rs, h-cs, s--t, hell d--n,
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| Topics: | sports and martial arts, misfits and underdogs |
| Studio: | Universal Pictures |
| Director: | Michael Ritchie |
| Cast: | Christopher Daniel Barnes, Tatum O'Neal, Walter Matthau |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Run time: | 102 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | July 18, 1976 |
| DVD release date: | July 18, 2002 |
| MPAA rating: | PG |
| MPAA explanation: | language and mature themes |
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